Consumer products as a source of diffuse environmental contamination

The recent report that the planetary boundary for novel entities has been exceeded highlights the urgent need to regulate consumer products in order to protect human health and reduce impacts on the environment. This presentation is an overview of research undertaken in the Environmental Group at the University of Canterbury to understand how products we use in our everyday life contribute to widespread environmental contamination.

Professor Sally Gaw is an environmental chemist at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand. Her research is interdisciplinary, encompassing environmental toxicology, chemistry and assessment of human exposure to chemical contaminants. Her passion for environmental chemistry was ignited as a child when she lived in developing countries. She has a particular interest in understanding how products we use in everyday life lead to environmental contamination and identifying how we can reduce the associated environmental burden.